Ziegler CFO and CAST Track Top Tech Spending for 2016

CAST | February 14, 2017 | by Donna Childress

Over the past year, senior living providers invested in information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructures more than any other technology, according to a Ziegler CFO HotlineSM survey conducted in December 2016. The study, conducted with input from LeadingAge CAST, gathered feedback on technology spending among senior living organizations. It also revisits similar polls from 2014 and 2012.

Method

Nearly 115 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) participated in this year’s survey, with a larger proportion of single-site organizations than multi-sites. Specifically, 65% were CFOs from single-site organizations, and 35% of respondents represented multi-site providers. The actual number of respondents varied for each survey category.

The survey’s initial section listed a variety of different technologies that are applicable to senior living providers and related healthcare organizations. Respondents were asked to identify which of the technologies they invested in over the past 12 months, as well as whether they planned to invest in them in the next 12 months.

Results

The vast majority of providers (81%) reported investing in ICT, such as wireless connectivity, in the previous 12 months. These technologies also were top choices in 2016:

In all but one case (physical exercise and rehabilitation technologies), the multi-site organizations were more likely than single-site organizations to have invested in a particular technology in the past year.

In some cases, multi-site organizations were up to three times more likely than single sites to have invested in a particular technology, such as health information exchange, shared care planning tools, telehealth/telemedicine, and medication management technologies.